Watchdog calls for Penn State changes

Auditor General Jack Wagner wants a shake-up in governance in Happy Valley.

(Morning Call file photo )

July 26, 2012|By John L. Micek, Call Harrisburg Bureau

HARRISBURG — — Pennsylvania Auditor General Jack Wagner on Thursday called on state lawmakers to strip Penn State's president and Gov. Tom Corbett of their voting rights on the university's board of trustees to help restore public trust in the institution's battered reputation.

"Penn State University is a public university that needs to be accountable to the citizens of Pennsylvania," said Wagner, whose office expects to release a report in late September calling for a thorough overhaul of the governance of the land-grant university.

Right now, Penn State's president — currently Rodney Erickson — has too much power and "sits in a position superior" to the board of trustees and should not be a member of the panel, Wagner said at a Capitol news conference. He said the governor should be made a non-voting member to avoid any potential conflicts of interest.

Wagner, a former state senator from Pittsburgh, is a Democrat. Current Gov. Tom Corbett is a Republican. Administration spokesman Kevin Harley scoffed at the recommendation.

"It sounds like a proposal written by someone who ran for governor and lost," Harley said.

Wagner staged an unsuccessful Democratic primary campaign for governor in 2010 — the year Corbett won the fall general election.

Wagner also endorsed long-standing legislative proposals to put Penn State and the three other "state-related" universities — Temple and Lincoln universities and the University of Pittsburgh — under the state's Right to Know Law.

The institutions, which annually receive hundreds of millions of dollars from taxpayers, should face the same disclosure requirements as other public agencies, he said. Wagner also acknowledged the need for some exceptions in cases in which the anonymity of donors and intellectual property rights could be compromised.

Wagner also said Penn State's board should not be able to meet without a quorum of at least of half of its 32 trustees. The current minimum is 13.

Wagner called for swift legislative action when lawmakers return to session in the fall. But it was not clear Thursday whether that would happen. The House and Senate return from summer break in late September and are in session for just a handful of days before an election season break in mid-October.

While he hadn't had the chance to review Wagner's proposals, Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa, D-Allegheny, said he believes a "review of the [university's] governance is warranted and that's a dialog we need to have."

But lawmakers also are skipping the traditional, post-election "lame-duck" session, making the chances of Wagner getting his proposals through the General Assembly fairly remote. Costa said those discussions will likely have to wait until next year.